Mamdani, Sanders Rally for NYC Nurses' Strike Talks

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders joined nurses on Tuesday in a rally outside Mount Sinai West hospital in Manhattan's Upper West Side, urging hospital leaders to resume contract talks on the ninth day of a strike involving 15,000 workers from three major health systems.

The walkout, which began on January 12, marks the largest nurses' strike in the city in decades. Nurses represented by the New York State Nurses Association are seeking a 25 percent salary increase over three years, along with protections for health care benefits, amid disputes over pay and working conditions. The union accuses hospital executives of prioritizing profits over staff well-being, while the hospitals contend the demands are unsustainable given financial pressures in the health care sector.

Since the strike started, the union has held one bargaining session with each affected system: Mount Sinai on Friday, NewYork-Presbyterian on Thursday, and Montefiore on Sunday evening. Those hours-long meetings yielded little progress, according to both sides, with no further talks scheduled this week. "They offered us nothing. It was all performative," said Jonathan Hunter, a...